That's the BAD Prop 98 that will be on the ballot in the June primary, not the good Prop 98 from 1988.  Still sounds kind of weird to see the California Teacher Association opposed to Prop 98, though.  But the AARP and the CTA are not the only members of what is a growing coalition against the Hidden Agendas embodied in the BAD Prop 98. You can get the full list of groups that oppose these hidden agendas on Friday here or over the flip.  But, it's quite an impressive list, running the gamut from all areas, including environmental groups, senior groups, education groups, labor, religious organizations, homeowner's groups, business, and even farming groups.

I think it's also important to note that several good government groups, such as the League of Women Voters, have come together with organizations across the state to reject Prop 98. A lot of propositions get a lot of pushback, but few get this depth and this breadth of pushback. In this video, you see Senator Carole Migden (D-SF) talking about the long, hard fight that we're going to have wage against the Bad Prop 98. 

The Bad Prop 98 will eliminate rent control in California, make governance of our state even harder, and generally be a problem for Californians.  This Bad Prop 98 is really, really bad for progressives and bad for California.

WE OPPOSE PROP. 98 – THE HIDDEN AGENDAS SCHEME  

Well, I must say, the timing of this is a bit surprising.  Former Assembly member Joe Nation has decided to run for State Senate in the 3rd district. From Mr. Nation on his candidacy:

“It’s late to be getting in in some respects,” Nation said after his announcement in a patch of wetlands near the Petaluma Marina on Saturday. Migden and Leno have been campaigning for more than a year already, while Veronese began only slight later, he said.

But Nation said he was “thrilled” by poll results showing a dead heat between him, Migden and Leno if he entered the race, with lesser known Veronese trailing.

“I know it will be a sprint,” he said, but plans to take a leave from his consulting work, allowing more time to campaign. “I more or less have 16 hours a day, seven days a week to work, and I think I can get it done,” he said. (Santa Rosa Press-Democrat 2/9/08)

The polls he references are internals, of course, but I’d expect that to be fairly reasonable. Nation has decent, but not great, name ID in the district from his days in the Assembly and from his ill-fated run against progressive Democrat Lynn Woolsey. However, I would imagine that there are a lot of people who remember the guy well. He’s a pretty smart guy when it comes to policy, that has never been the question.

The question of how this affects the race are quite numerous. It substantially diminishes Joe Veronese’s chances, given that the son of Angela Alioto was trying quite hard to lure those North Bay constituents. Nation’s entrance into the race puts that much more incentive for SF to either rally around one candidate, or face the possibility of being represented in the Senate from outside of the County.

Either way, it is even more clear that SD-03 will be the most interesting legislative primary this year.

Representative Tom Lantos has succumbed to esophageal cancer today in Washington, DC. The 80-year-old Congressman has represented parts of San Francisco and the Peninsula for the better part of thirty years.

He was a commanding figure in both the Capitol and in the Bay Area. His personal story was amazing and powerful. He escaped the Holocaust with the assistance of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who issued passports for those fleeing the Nazi death camps, but most of his family perished in the Holocaust.

While I didn’t always agree with Rep. Lantos, I always knew that his motivation was always the best interests of America and the pursuit of human rights across the globe. Rep. Lantos’ voice will be missed.

Already a quick hit, AP/SacBee has the unfortunate news:

Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, has died, his spokeswoman said Monday.

Lynne Weil said that Lantos, 80, passed away at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in suburban Maryland.

Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor in Congress and had a long record on human rights issues.

Lantos, who was elected to the House in 1980, founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1983. In early 2004 he led the first congressional delegation to Libya in more than 30 years, meeting personally with Moammar Gadhafi and urging the Bush administration to show “good faith” to the North African leader in his pledge to abandon his nuclear weapons programs. Later that year, President Bush lifted sanctions against Libya.

Lantos had already announced his retirement because of the cancer.  He becomes the second California member of Congress to succumb to cancer in this session after Juanita Millender-McDonald who passed away in April.

Tom Lantos was a giant and will be missed both as a legislator and a person.

Update: Capitol Alert notes there will be a special election for the seat before November, possibly in tandem with the June election.